Podcasts about kashmiri hindus

Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2023 9:39

A version of this essay was published by firstpost.com at https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/shadow-warrior-crown-sceptre-and-the-saga-of-dharmapuri-12647632.htmlIn Malayalam, the terms are “kireedom and chenkol”, that is, crown and scepter, signifying the powerful symbols of the State. He or she who holds these is deemed to be the ruler, ruling with the full authority of the office, and the full approval of the subjects. The words chenkol in Malayalam and ‘sengol' in Tamil are cognate, eg. Chenkotta (red fort) in Malayalam is Sengottai in Tamil.The scepter is an important marker of kingship, so much so that during imperial times, Britain was referred to as the ‘sceptr'd isle', that is, the unquestioned ruler of its far flung empire. There is of course the third symbol, the throne, or ‘simhasanam'. During the recent investiture of the British king, I am sure all three of these were on full display. For some reason, the throne seems less important in Indian lore than the other two, but in a wicked pun, the great fabulist O V Vijayan in his savage satire “The Saga of Dharmapuri” equated the throne with a European toilet, as in a slang American expression for the erstwhile ‘thunder box'.The Chola ‘sengol' from Tamil Nadu was a sacred symbol included in a “vesting ceremony accompanied by a recital of 11 verses from the Thevaram text invoking the blessings of Shiva for the ruler” in 1947, according to S Gurumurthy in “How the Sengol embodied India's freedom and why it was forgotten and lost” on republicworld.com. Not only was the sengol forgotten, the Cholas, and their great maritime empire that extended all the way to Indonesia, were erased.In fact, all of South Indian history, including the fabled Vijayanagar Empire, the samurai-like kalaripayat warriors of the west coast and Tulunadu, Telugu patriots like Alluri Sitarama Raju, Travancore's Marthanda Varma who defeated the Dutch at Colachel in 1749, and Travancore's Chempakaraman Pillai of the INA who coined the term ‘Jai Hind', was wiped out from the pages of textbooks. In their place, a weird pabulum of make-believe was installed. The sacred ‘sengol' denoting “virtuous and ethical rule” per Gurumurthy was deemed to be a personal gift, a gold walking stick given to Jawaharlal Nehru, which once again shows how a personality cult was relentlessly built up that would make Mao and Kim Il Sung green with envy. “L'etat, c'est moi” (The State, it is I), said Louis XIV, the Sun King of France. Well, we know what happened to his descendants: the guillotine. Indians, being more gentle, have not quite done the same thing. Or at least done so only metaphorically. Which reminds me, why is/was Nehru called ‘Pandit Nehru'? Who certified him? What was he a pundit in? Did he pass some pundit exam? Ah, it was just part of the personality cult. I don't see other Kashmiri Hindus going around calling themselves Pandit: they use their family names, so what's special about these people?Oh well, I guess I answered my own question. According to the cult, Nehrus were the hereditary rulers of India, and so it was only natural that the kingship would pass from the British to Nehru. There is only one slight problem. Again according to O V Vijayan in The Path of the Prophet, the Nehrus were not hereditary feudal lords, but ferrymen on the river Neher, “they who came from somewhere”, and had taken the name of the river as their surname. Jawaharlal's grandfather Ganga Dhar was a kotwal in a Delhi police station. A Ghosh had some more startling information about this man, who was photographed in a full Pathan outfit, but I shall let that pass. I made an attempt at deconstructing the Nehru myth in my 1999 Rediff.com essay Let us now praise famous men wherein I quote at length the relevant passage from Vijayan. In my considered opinion, Nehru was an almost unmitigated disaster for India: he thought India was his personal fiefdom, and he was entitled to dispense imperial largesse. He gave away all sorts of things (that didn't belong to him in the first place):* Treaty rights in Tibet inherited from the British given away in exchange for nothing* The right of independent Tibet to exist was erased, as he colluded with Chinese road-building on the Indo-Tibetan border: Chinese troops were fed with Indian rice!* Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir given away by taking the issue to the hostile UN instead of allowing the Indian Army to cleanse the area of invading Pakistani tribals* UN Security Council seat, offered by both the US and Russia (yes, I can quote chapter and verse on this from Nehru's collected writings), given away to China* Coco Islands given away to Burma, which is now allowing China to build a naval base thereIn addition, Nehru, in his own words in this video, thought that throughout history South India was a separate country. I get it, he must have taken his pundit exam along with Romila Thapar in ancient Indian history!There is good reason to think of Jawaharlal Nehru as not quite getting the full picture (Chou En Lai allegedly referred to him, rather rudely, as a ‘useful idiot'). Then what does that make his acolytes? That was the question Vijayan asked in “Dharmapuri”, which opens with the dramatic statement: “Prajapati wanted to s**t”, in crude Malayalam. “It was a little off the usual time that day, so the assembled dignitaries were a little disturbed when the Army Chief blew the conch signifying that the event was at hand. It was only the late afternoon. Normally Prajapati did his thing at dawn and dusk, to the accompaniment of Dharmapuri's national song.” [See the photograph of Page 1 of the book in Malayalam]Prajapati is seated on his ‘throne', a toilet. That was important, because whatever Prajapati expelled into the toilet was eagerly consumed by his courtiers. This Brechtian tale is hard to read: it invokes bibhatsa in the reader, creating both alienation and catharsis. Here's a relevant bit: “Whoever became anybody in the kingdom, in industry, or in politics, had done so by regularly eating Prajapati's s**t. Mothers would pray that their children would have an opportunity to consume those perfumed feces”. That's a gross way of putting it, but there's an element of truth: the Dynasty demanded utter loyalty. Meanwhile, India's economy kept declining steadily in comparison to the rest of the world, until there was a bit of a turnaround in 1991, and accelerating growth in the 2010s. After all these years of living dangerously, India is now inching ahead. With economic growth, it is normal to think of tradition, culture and heritage. It is only fitting, then, that the Prime Minister took part it an investiture ceremony, with several Tamil Nadu matha-adhipathis in attendance. With native Tamil and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman taking a visible role, the government has declared its intent to nip any sub-nationalism (the US ambassador's obsession) in the bud. It is an emphatic re-assertion of pan-Indian nationalism, necessary in these times of increasingly complex geopolitics. It is time to decisively throw off the shibboleths of the immediate post-independence period. The Chola-style sengol is being restored to its rightful place as a symbol of the resurgent Indian State, as it was intended to be in the first place, not, absurdly, some guy's walking stick. Errata: It was pointed out by Professor Subhash Kak that Vijayalakshmi Pandit was married to a man with the surname Pandit. The error is regretted. 1117 words, 25 May 2023, 1137 words, updated 27 May 2023, 1214 words, updated 28 May 2023 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

Sonth EP 06: Sufism in Kashmir ft. Maulvi Mohd. Ashraf Thukroo

The New Indian Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2023 47:57

You're listening to ‘Sonth', a Kashmiri- Hindustani bilingual podcast on hot-button historical, political, and socio-economic issues of Jammu and Kashmir, hosted by Editor-in-Chief Aarti Tikoo. Maulvi Mohammad Ashraf Thukroo is a Sufi saint, scholar and educator based in South Kashmir. In this episode, he talks about the origin, history and impact of Sufism in Kashmir. Influenced by the teachings of Darvesh that he encountered at a young age, Mohd Ashraf recalls the time when he decided to embark on the life-long spiritual journey in conflict-ridden Kashmir valley. He also shares insights about the convoluted cultural affair between Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Hindus, who share common ancestral roots.

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Ep. 86: Three exemplars of Indian cinema in 2022: RRR, The Kashmir Files, and Kantara

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2023 14:14

A version of this essay was published by firstpost.com at https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/shadow-warrior-three-exemplars-of-indian-cinema-in-2022-rrr-the-kashmir-files-and-kantara-11940742.html2022 was a watershed year for Indian cinema and cinephiles. At long last, the formulaic Hindi/Urdu cinema that has dominated both mindshare and box office took a beating, for it appears to no longer appeal to the consuming public. It has long been accused of lack of originality; its anti-Indian slant, and especially its overt anti-Hindu stance, have now begun to annoy large numbers of viewers. They voted with their wallets, as per BookMyShow.The yeoman efforts by @GemsofBollywood to demonstrate bad faith on the part of the industry have had an impact, as can be seen from the number of expensive flops: Lal Singh Chaddha, Shamshera, Raksha Bandhan, Cirkus, Dobaara, Liger. They should change course, though given the current crop of agenda-ridden poseurs and nepo-kids, it's not clear they can.As a direct consequence of the arrival a few years ago of high-bandwidth fiber-to-the-home, many cinema viewers have also become accustomed to a wide range of offerings on OTT like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. This has made them aware of cinema from around the world that frankly shows that Bollywood has always been inferior in content and form, except for the film music (at least in earlier days). I was at one time a cineaste, enjoying the 20th century works of Kurosawa, Ray, Eisenstein, the Italian and French masters, Bergman, and the Indian New Wave. It was easy to dismiss the cinematic quality of the Mumbai film industry; but it has always been influential, and has set the narrative about India both internally and in the developing world, as well as Russia and Japan. For a variety of reasons (including simple prejudice), the Mumbai film industry has not been able to make a mark on Western audiences, and RRR is the first Indian film to make waves in the US market. In a positive write-up about why RRR deserves an Oscar, perhaps for Best Picture (yes, not for Best International Feature), Douglas Laman suggests that Indian films have been unfairly ignored (h/t Hari G).Thank you for reading Shadow Warrior. This post is public so feel free to share it.The fact is that all three of the films that became visible successes in 2022 (along with other big box-office successes KGF 2, Ponniyin Selvan, Pushpa) have origins outside the formulaic Mumbai industry, and it may well be the beginning of a trend. The three are distinctive and different, and it is arguable that they are archetypes of three types or even three genres of cinema. Cinema as spectacleRRR is cinema as spectacle (harking back to the big Hollywood productions whose intent it was to awe); The Kashmir Files is realistic, almost documentary in tone; and Kantara, the most difficult to precisely pigeonhole, is impressionistic, a cultural phenomenon immersing you in a world that you must be an insider to fully appreciate. RRR is the easiest for audiences to appreciate, because it compels suspension of disbelief, and draws you into its make-believe world with its fantastic stunts and subtle theme of rebellion against authority and cruel white colonialism (which appeals to the newly woke sentiment of film fans especially in the US). It is cinema as entertainment; the dances and the swashbuckling take center stage with the buddy story while the freedom struggle is sort of in the background.In a sense this kind of cinema is the lineal descendant of the story-tellers and bards of old. In India we had the katha-kalakshepam artists and traveling theater troupes telling/performing stories from the Puranas. Similarly, in many places there were shadow-puppet shows, again with heroic stories from the epics (like the wayang kulit of Java). Children would sit breathless often in dim lamplight, entranced by tales of brave warriors and fair maidens. SS Rajamouli, the director of RRR, is in that tradition: he tells tall tales, and he does it well. In fact, his two Baahubali films were masterpieces of the art, and they were among the very best Indian films in decades. Gorgeous sets, glorious set-piece battles, beautiful princesses, treachery, stalwart warriors, noble companions, fearsome villains – the works. And they were entirely believable because they were epics set in the (distant) mythical past, fables. Hollywood used to specialize in these too: remember Ben Hur and the like? Or even Kurosawa's Ran, Seven Samurai and Kagemusha. Therein lies my small gripe about RRR: since it is set in the recent past, I found it hard to engage with the superhuman stunts and the dance sequences, which were quite appropriate in the Baahubali films. Okay, that's just me.This also probably means that Rajamouli will be snatched away by Hollywood's rich ecosystem, as has happened to talented Hong Kong and Australian directors, who moved on to bigger and better things and global fame after relocating. That would be good for him, but bad for Indian film. Realist cinema, including cinema verite I am a fan of the understated and realistic school, having always preferred the low-key off-Bollywood film, such as Charulata, Pather Panchali, Bhuvan Shome, Chomana Dudi and in particular in Malayalam Uttarayanam, Thampu, Elippathayam. There is a subset of this realism, the class of historical film that does not veer into propaganda, for instance the Soviet masterpiece Battleship Potemkin or the Jewish-holocaust epic Schindler's List.Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, who created The Kashmir Files, is known for his powerful and hard-hitting contemporary portrayals of Indian culture. His Buddha in a Traffic Jam was an indictment of the ‘Urban Naxal' phenomenon that seems to have infiltrated academia and media, and which, one could cogently argue, is a grave and existential threat to the nation. All of us who lived through the dark days of the 1990s and remember the newspaper headlines about Jammu and Kashmir then knew terrible things happened there to the minority population: a violent, religion-motivated ethnic cleansing. But much of this was swept under the carpet in the interest of some Nehruvian-Stalinist secularism. Unlike for other peoples who were targeted and exterminated, there has been no truth and reconciliation for Kashmiri Hindus.The Kashmir Files is almost entirely based on actual, well-documented atrocities against a defenseless civilian population, slightly fictionalized, and it is a damning indictment of the fecklessness of the Indian State, and in particular of the mindset that allowed the murders, rapes, and ethnic cleansing of Indian citizens by foreign-funded terrorists. [Note the Jammu attacks on Jan 2, 2023 as well: Hindus targeted and shot, and IEDs left in the house].That an Israeli leftist film-maker dared to deride TKF as ‘vulgar propaganda' as the head of the jury of the government-sponsored International Film Festival of India 2022 shows that the pusillanimity of the Indian State continues to this day. (I was also reminded of the powerful Malayalam Piravi, about one of the young men who ‘disappeared' during the Emergency.) But nothing takes away from the reality of the Kashmir holocaust; TKF is as chilling, and as accurate, a portrait as the Killing Fields was of Pol Pot's Cambodian holocaust of the 1970s. Thanks for reading Shadow Warrior! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Cultural and spiritual phenomenonKantara is a difficult-to-define film, because it doesn't fit into a neat category. I wish I could say it was like Kurasawa's works, for example Rashomon, which immerse you into medieval Japan without apology or explanation. But Kurosawa was deeply influenced not only by traditional Japanese literature and theater, but also by Western film and theater traditions, and therefore his work is pretty much immediately understandable to a Western audience. Not so with Kantara. It is hard enough for many Indians to relate to the film; I imagine it would be well-nigh impossible for those from a non-Hindu frame of mind to do so. Even among Hindus, quite a few were baffled and could not relate to it. I was induced to see it by a wonderful review by the photographer Gowri Subramanya, and my expectations were sky-high.I could immediately understand and relate to the idea that there are spirits all around, a typically Hindu view. Thinking about it later, I remembered O V Vijayan's Little Ones, about benign family spirits that appeared as little dancing points of light, always there in times of trouble. But many Hindus might find it hard to relate to.I too had a bit of a hard time relating to the protagonist Siva's (played by director Rishab Shetty himself) wayward life: all the drinking and boar-hunting and the ‘bro' life irritated me because I wanted him to be the bhoota kola spirit dancer that he avoided becoming. (Spoiler alert) But in the end, he cannot evade his destiny, and in a glorious apotheosis he does become the fearsome Guliga. I later realized he had to go through his Hero's Journey (as Nambi did in Rocketry): that was what the story was all about. Maybe I was primed to appreciate Kantara, as Malabar's theyyams are almost identical to the bhoota kola in neighboring Tulunadu. I have watched, at dusk, the awe-inspiring appearance of the thee-poti, or the Devi with fire; and the Gulikan, the fierce guardian deity. They appeal to me, for I believe in this land and its ancient autochthonic deities. And here's an interesting dance interpretation of varaharoopam by two Kerala women. Varaha Roopam|Dance choreography |Pooja and Mariya |KantaraBut a lot of Hindus have been gaslighted and taught in school to disdain the gods of their ancestors; they have picked up half-baked Western, Abrahamic prejudices, which in the final analysis are based on blind faith that is doctrinally defined to be unquestionable. They are apologetic, and may try to ‘explain' the Hindu world-view to those who are programmed to not comprehend. If you will pardon my introducing a personal note, this is very much like what happened when the late Varsha Bhosle and I started writing unapologetic Hindu nationalist columns on rediff.com around 1995. They resonated with many; but others, nurtured on standard leftie fare, fulminated against us as though we violated their deeply held beliefs. Well, actually, yes. I have seen innumerable films that either demonize Hinduism (almost the entire oeuvre of Urduwood) or try to present a sanitized face for Western consumption. Kantara is the first film I have seen that presents Hindu beliefs as itihasa (iti-hasa, thus it is and was). This is the way things are. Deal with it. The fact that these three films of three different genres were successful – and the intensely patriotic Rocketry: The Nambi Effect was a hit too – is a tremendous boost for India. It's time to move away from self-flagellating mediocrity to proudly present Indian cinema as part of a cultural renaissance, as Japan, Hong Kong and Korea have done in the past. 1750 words, 1 Jan 2023 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

Ep. 85: A deplorable Supreme Court decision on Demonetization

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2023 8:26

A version of this essay was published by thepamphlet.in at https://www.thepamphlet.in/en/shadow-warrior-a-deplorable-supreme-court-decision-on-demonetization/The Supreme Court, in a 4:1 judgment, held that the 2016 Demonetization was acceptable. The dissenting judge, well, dissented, saying that it was flawed. This decision sets an awful precedent that will come back to haunt us all, and the judiciary is respectful of precedent. The law of unintended consequences will strike.It is not that demonetization per se was a bad idea, or that it was executed poorly, or that its goals were not met. It was a pretty good idea, it was executed moderately well, and the declared goals, to reduce corruption, terror funding through counterfeit notes, and to increase the proportion of ‘white' money in circulation, were met to an extent. No, the problem is twofold: one, an unprecedented and unwarranted level of judicial overreach and encroachment into the domain of the Executive; two, the common sense principle of fait accompli: this is a done deal, and it is essentially impossible to undo it. The point is that the judiciary has its role, which is in hair-splitting legal jargon and in particular the verbiage of the Constitution. With all due respect, judges are not trained in other disciplines, and would be hard-pressed to understand economics, or engineering, or medicine, or military affairs. They simply will not be able to make judicious decisions (to give them credit, the majority opinion did concede this). But then, they should not take up such cases in the first place. I can imagine motivated petitioners waiting in the wings to now ask the Supreme Court to undo the 1971 Bangladesh War, the decision to impose covid-related mandates, or the Mangalyaan space probe. In fact, you could find somebody to make a cogent argument that the Constitution should not have been accepted in 1950, and that it should be rolled back. There is no end to such litigation, and if it is allowed to proliferate, it would clog up the entire judiciary. Of course, the entire judiciary is already clogged up with 30 million cases, so why open the flood-gates and invite more frivolous litigation?As for the law of unintended consequences, there is the recent experience of the Democrats in the US. After years of claiming ex-President Trump's tax returns would reveal deep, dark secrets, they forced him to reveal them: and it was a damp squib, with nothing of significance, no tax evasion. But the precedent has been set, and the Republicans will now use this to harass every Democrat alleging skeletons in their tax closets. The Indian Supreme Court should stick to its fundamental task: interpreting the Constitution. Not being a lawyer, I cannot say authoritatively that there is no constitutional issue in the anti-demonetization lawsuit, but I doubt it. It is a purely administrative issue, and thus the domain of the Executive, just as making a multitude of daily decisions is. The activist Indian courts have long been accused of interfering in everything while at the same time creating cozy little fiefdoms for themselves, for instance in the continuous creation of post-retirement sinecures for judges, the most recent being the demand that retired judges should be on the committee choosing the Chief Election Commissioner.The most obvious example of bad faith is the judiciary's closed and opaque Collegium system, wherein they nominate and appoint themselves, with the predictable result of nepotism and hereditary elites. It is high time that Parliament put a stop to this, and created new laws that mandate a role for the Executive. The proposed NJAC could be one way forward. If the NJAC is unconstitutional, well then, bring in a constitutional amendment. Many people have talked about judicial reforms; I too took a stab at it a few years ago (“Can we fix the deeply troubled judiciary?” Swarajya, May 2018). One of my points was the radical restructuring of the system into a Supreme Court that only hears constitutional cases, and a new set of regional Courts of Appeal, with status almost equivalent to the Supreme Court, that hear other things beyond the ken of state High Courts. There is a serious concern about which cases the Supreme Court chooses to hear. At the moment, it appears whimsical. Why on earth would the SC hear cases about cricket, which is a mere entertainment? Why on earth would the SC not hear petitions about the 1990s ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus (it has refused to do so three times already).The terror onslaught in Jammu and Kashmir is not history. We saw with horror the terrorist attack on Hindus in Jammu's Rajouri just days ago, where the attackers reportedly identified Hindus by their Aadhar cards, and then shot them. This is an urgent, ongoing problem, and why does the court refuse to hear it, while at the same time accepting a case on the 1948 assassination of Mahatma Gandhi? Next, someone will file a PIL demanding the undoing of that assassination.Why does the SC accept PILs (Public Interest Litigations) put up by motivated NGOs, often with foreign funding? These people are able to get, through the back door, rapid decisions that affect the entire country, whereas the cases should properly be heard at the local level in District Courts, and only be elevated to the Supreme Court through a proper process if they actually have merit.Apart from this, some actions are virtually impossible to undo: time and tide wait for no man. How could the SC, like King Canute who ordered the waves to retreat, even possibly consider the undoing of demonetization? How will it be done? What about the major moves in digitization that resulted, the UPI revolution, the trillions of rupees flowing through a payment system that is now ubiquitous and available to anyone with a mobile phone?India has now become one of the most digitally connected countries in the world, but the amount of cash in the system is now even greater than at the time of demonetization. Can the court explain why? So it is not as though cash suddenly disappeared. Yes, there was a temporary crunch, and yes, it was hardship for many, but on average, most people have recovered.Malign NGOs have continually opposed national interests: remember Sterlite? Or the Sardar Sarovar dam? By accepting a plea that was clearly inappropriate, probably politically motivated, and in any case something that would be virtually impossible to undo, the Supreme Court has set a poor precedent. The Indian judiciary acts as a law unto itself, unaccountable to anybody else. This is wrong. As the President and the Vice President mentioned recently, it is time the judiciary reformed itself. I suspect it will have to be done forcibly, not voluntarily.1090 words, 3 Jan 2023 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

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Surrender to Jihad in Kashmir - Doval, Dulat and LG Aarti Tikoo, Ajay Chrungoo, Sanjay Dixit

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 2, 2023 55:16

Kashmir Policy of Govt. of India continues to be its Achilles Heel. First Dulat exposed Doval, and then the LG Manoj Sinha denied the Jihad roots of Kashmir violence. Kashmiri Hindus seem to be nobody's child. Dr. Ajay Chrungoo and Aarti Tikoo join Sanjay Dixit to discuss.

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Kashmiri Hindus: Exodus and Genocide | Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri | #SangamTalks SrijanTalks

Srijan Foundation Talks

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2022 77:48

Kashmiri Hindus: Exodus and Genocide | Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri | #SangamTalks SrijanTalks

exodus genocide vivek hindus kashmiri kashmiri hindus

Ep. 74: A tale of two Supreme Courts: best practices from the US and India need to be adopted

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2022 18:30

A version of this essay was published by firstpost.com at https://www.firstpost.com/india/a-tale-of-two-supreme-courts-best-practices-from-the-us-and-india-need-to-be-adopted-10875201.htmlI must confess a little shamefacedly that I watched the godawful fuss in the US following the SCOTUS’ overturning of Roe v Wade with some smugness. That was because, at long last, the Supreme Court of India finally threw the book at Teesta Setalvad, R B Shreekumar, Sanjiv Bhatt et al, in what had long been a travesty of justice. I began to think that maybe the Indian system, although glacially slow, has a thing or two to teach the much-ballyhooed Americans.Sadly, my joy was short-lived. Within a week, there was the spectacle of a two SC judge-bench in India harshly criticizing Nupur Sharma. They denied her plea to bundle various FIRs filed in far-off places like Calcutta, expressed personal opinions not germane to the plea, and lectured her on how a blasphemy allegation against her was her fault. They had apparently made up their minds without considering any evidence. I am properly chastened, and I am eating crow. Hubris before nemesis. I should have known. India’s institutions are severely compromised. Even the CJI implied in a speech in the US that India’s institutions are less developed because India is not a “mature democracy”.Thanks for reading Shadow Warrior! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Earlier, I used to stand in awe of the Indian judiciary. My great-uncle was a Chief Justice, and a family friend was on the Supreme Court. Two friends are or were High Court justices. I have always had a good impression of them. But over time, I began to see problems in the Indian system, and I wrote in 2018 about urgently needed judicial reform in Can We Fix the Deeply Troubled Judiciary?. The PIL (Public Interest Litigation) system has been weaponized, for one thing. The backlog of cases is daunting, for another. Several years later, the same problems have gotten worse, including structural issues about the Supreme Court straying far beyond its remit of interpreting the Constitution. But in India, a judge recently condemned ‘social media’ for alleging that he had violated both decorum and propriety in what an impartial observer might consider extraneous comments.In the US, those who were upset with the SCOTUS’ action roundly abused it; for instance an Indian-origin politician named Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. I don’t know about the merit of her argument (and based on her ultra-woke-ness, it may have none), but it is very interesting that she could say rude things like this about the court and judges. In India, draconian ‘contempt of court’ provisions would be applied, and the critic jailed, for even mild criticism..That is one of the differences between the US judiciary and the Indian. There are several others. To begin with they are a) selection, b) tenure, c) ambit/remit and jurisdiction, d) appraisal and termination.Thank you for reading Shadow Warrior. This post is public so feel free to share it.Selection and AccountabilityIn the US, quite a few judges are elected: I have seen their names on election billboards, and so far as I can tell this is for state judge positions. That sounds odd to Indians partly because the US is a federation of states, whereas India is a union, and that makes a difference. Anyway, I am under the impression that most judges in say, the California state judiciary, are directly elected by the public. On the other hand, federal judges are appointed by the government, but they also have to go through a confirmation process wherein they are basically grilled by the Senate, i.e. the equivalent of the Rajya Sabha. Thus, elected officials representing individual voters do ‘elect’ the judges. This brings in a level of accountability.There is the obvious flaw that a determined government can “pack” the courts with people they like, especially if they have an ideological ax to grind. This only works, of course, if the Executive Branch can convince a majority in the Senate, i.e. the Legislative Branch. In fact, it is alleged, and it is likely, that ex-POTUS Trump packed the courts with people he liked. Even then, it is hard to make the case that the US Supreme Court is representative of public opinion. Look at how the old school tie works, and how a discreet endorsement here and there might have worked.In India, it is much worse. Judges themselves select new judges, and will not tolerate the Executive branch or Legislative branch getting involved in this. So far as I know, this is unique in the whole world. When the Indian Government suggested a National Judicial Appointments Committee (NJAC) that would have input from the other branches, the judicial branch shot it down claiming it was unconstitutional. I wonder if a National Judicial Service is a good idea, because the obvious rot in the Indian administrative services gives one pause. Common sense suggests a selection mechanism where there is a level of outside input. Without that, there is every incentive to promote friends and relatives of current judges. In fact, it turns out that many current Supreme Court judges are indeed related to former judges or politicians. It would be better to adopt the US system of confirmations by the legislature following a nomination by the government, of course with advice from the judiciary. TenureOnce selected, a US Supreme Court judge is in place for life, until he/she retires voluntarily, or dies, or is impeached. This means judicial appointments can have a very long impact, because a judge may be on the SCOTUS for fifty years. But judges have also been known to change in office, for instance moderating extreme views they might have entered with.In India, Supreme Court judges retire at 65, state High Court judges retire at 62. On the face of it, this seems like a more sensible system, because the judges are still relatively young and vigorous while on the court. However, there is a pernicious loophole: retiring judges are then absorbed into other positions, which means there is an incentive for them to write judgments that make them attractive to possible future employers. Judges get such substantial pensions and other privileges that it would not be a hardship to place a moratorium on them accepting post-retirement employment. In the US case, it is unlikely that a SCOTUS judge would take up post-retirement employment, even though I wonder if they are explicitly forbidden from doing so. (Even post-retirement POTUSes don’t take up new jobs. They just sort of fade away).A via media on tenure may be a better idea: raise Indian judges’ retirement age to, say 70, considering that people are healthier and live longer these days, and that they have valuable expertise, but strictly forbid any post-retirement employment of any kind, including commissions, arbitration, etc. Ambit/remit and jurisdictionIn my earlier essay, I pointed out the need to bifurcate the top court and to clearly specify its scope. Here the US structure is clearly superior, and could be adopted more or less in toto.For, in the US, the Supreme Court hears Constitutional cases, and only Constitutional cases. All other cases go elsewhere: Federal Circuit Courts that are courts of appeal, and Federal District Courts that are trial courts. I think this fine distinction can be ignored, and India should institute four regional Courts of Appeal that will hear cases that exceed the state High Courts’ jurisdiction, for instance inter-state disputes. One of the issues today is that the SC seems whimsical in what cases it decides to hear, and what it drops. For instance, it declined to hear a case brought by Kashmiri Hindus about their genocide saying the matter was too old, but paradoxically it agreed to hear a case about the Mahatma Gandhi assassination, even though that was much older. And it likes to take up cases on cricket! Besides, certain influential lawyers (and certain NGOs) can get the SC to hear their clients at midnight, while others languish for decades. There must be clear guidelines provided by Parliament perhaps through a Constitutional Amendment. This should also put paid to such quaint notions as “constitutional morality” (Constitutions are not moral documents) or “original intent”, the US version of “basic structure” (who knows what was going on in the minds of the Constituent Assembly; only what they wrote down can be discussed).In addition, the PIL mechanism should be dropped, and all cases required to be filed at the District or Magistrate court, and they should bubble up through the system in case they have merit. It is deeply offensive to watch those with deep pockets, especially malign foreign-funded NGOs, getting their way with little effort by just waltzing directly into the SC.Appraisal and terminationJudges are extremely important members of society, and the Supreme Court in particular is the last refuge for a common man. There should be mechanisms to ensure that the judiciary does not go off on tangents, but that they are working towards the common good of the nation. An ancient judge was executed and flayed alive. His skin was used to upholster a judge’s chair. What is more, his successor, his son, was forced to sit in that chair, on his dead father’s skin, to deliver his judgments. That is barbaric, but it does make a point. Judges must be immaculately neutral and scrupulous.So what is the metric for appraisal? In India, one should be the quick disposal of cases. Pendency is a huge problem, and a good bit of it is because of too few working days: too many holidays, and a two-month vacation in summer and a two week vacation in winter. These days there is no reason not to run the courts in multiple shifts, including a night shift. And most work should be done online, so that litigants needn’t waste time waiting around courthouses all day.There should be clear Key Result Areas, and judges need to be measured on meeting them. These metrics can be determined by Parliament through a Constitutional Amendment. Justice delayed is justice denied, after all.What if a judge fails in these metrics, or in other ways? There was a High Court judge, with the memorable name of Karnan, who was sent to six months’ imprisonment for contempt of Supreme Court. The rules for impeachment should be made more transparent. At the moment, it looks like judges can close ranks and prevent impeachment, or at least make it very difficult in India, and possibly even in the US. There has been only one successful impeachment of a SCOTUS judge so far as I can tell: one Justice Samuel Chase in 1805. But the US senate acquitted him, so he returned to service. I am not aware of a single Indian judge who has been impeached, but surely some deserve to be. While India’s democracy “matures”, there is nothing wrong in taking some lessons from the US about what works. There is no need to import everything wholesale, but pick and choose judiciously. As has been discussed by many, it would be a good idea to also emulate the structure of the US Constitution, a brief document of 10 or so pages. A new Constitution is needed in India, as the prolix version we have now is failing to stand the test of time, as the many Amendments indicate. All the more reason why we need a better-designed Supreme Court to interpret it, and it alone. 1900 words, 5 Jul 2022 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

Ep. 72: Nupur Sharma, neo-feudalism and the geopolitical squeeze on India

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2022 12:51

A version of this essay was published by firstpost.com at Nupur Sharma, neo-feudalism and the geopolitical squeeze on IndiaThe commentariat has rightly focused on the specifics of the Nupur Sharma incident, such as the alleged blasphemy, the apparent provocation, the possibly pro-forma outrage and the street-veto (cheered on by certain politicians who spoke ominously about tinder and spark). I couldn’t possibly improve on their perspectives. For instance Utpal Kumar wrote an excellent piece excoriating the cringe-inducing and thunderous ‘liberal’ response https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/nupur-sharma-has-erred-no-doubt-but-why-are-liberals-mutedly-supporting-islamist-challenge-to-her-right-to-life-10767521.html; and I would add that ‘feminists’ were also notable by their absence. The blood-curdling death threats being hurled at Nupur, the fact that she has been hanged in effigy, and the related riots that appear to be astroturfed, are all deplorable. I would like to look at the whole thing from the point of view of geopolitics. India is in the process of being squeezed badly.Thanks for reading Shadow Warrior! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Soft StateThere are a couple of perspectives of interest. One is a throwback to the dark days of 1989-90, when the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban induced the most recent genocide of Kashmiri Hindus, because the terrorists Pakistan had assigned to their Afghan battle were (as they are now) available; and this time, thanks to Biden’s largesse, they have billions worth of weapons. A related historical incident is the hijack of Indian Airlines 814 in 1999, and what, in hindsight, was a strategic blunder committed by India, with Jaswant Singh personally escorting the freed terrorists to Kandahar, who then proceeded to wreak general havoc. In both cases, the Pakistani takeaways were predicated on triumphalism. They could see the dictum in their Brigadier General SK Malik’s The Qoranic Concept of War being put in place. “Terror struck into the hearts of the enemies is not only a means, it is the end itself.” They could with good reason argue that they were on a trajectory towards a final victory, and urge a final thrust that would bring the house of cards down.The result was the Parliament attack, 2001. Operation Parakram. Godhra, 2002. And eventually 26/11 Mumbai in 2008.Pakistan and its friends in India have been nothing if not lucid: they openly declare their intent to wreak havoc on India, balkanize it, massacre people, do gazwa-e-hind. There is every reason to believe that they mean what they say. To pretend otherwise is to repeat the US folly vis-a-vis China: China kept saying what they intended to do, and the US kept pretending not to hear; and we know where that got Obama and Biden. The point is that every capitulation, every demand conceded, is viewed as a sign of weakness, and invites the next, ever more outrageous demand. India today may be going down this slippery slope, again. As it did repeatedly in the 20th century. The deep freeze on CAA was a capitulation. The withdrawal of the Farm Bills was a capitulation. And now the silencing of Nupur Sharma is a capitulation. If the State blinks on Agnipeeth, that would be another capitulation. There may well be good reasons for all of them, but the fact is that they perpetuate the notion that India is a Soft State.Thank you for reading Shadow Warrior. This post is public so feel free to share it.Neo-Feudalism and the Serf StateThe second perspective of interest is global. Sociologist and demographer Joel Kotkin writes in his latest book The Coming of Neo-Feudalism that we are slipping into a period where there is a stark contrast between the ruling elites, in particular the tech billionaires, and the ruled proletariat. In other words, a return to the European era of feudalism, where a ruling class lorded it over the serfs, who basically had no rights. On Singularity Radio, leftist and former finance minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, echoes the same sentiment and argues it is ‘techno-feudalism’. He goes one step further to state that Capitalism is dead, whereas Kotkin only goes so far as to argue that a zaibatsu-ization of the US economy is happening, and the economic systems of the US and China are converging.In a Hoover Institution podcast based on his Foreign Affairs article, geo-strategist John Mearsheimer suggests a convergence from a political angle too. He argues that the difference between a democracy and an autocracy are limited so far as great-power rivalries go, and that the US made an extraordinarily foolish move to enable China to rise. Says he: Engagement may have been the worst strategic blunder any country has made in recent history: there is no comparable example of a great power actively fostering the rise of a peer competitor. And it is now too late to do much about it.Put these two arguments together, and you get an interesting picture. On the one hand, feudalism requires an upper class and a lower class. It could be argued that feudalism never in fact went away in Europe, or even the supposedly class-less US. Social mobility there is far less than one has been led to believe, according to research by Raj Chetty, then at Stanford. There indeed are traditional elites in the US: the East-Coast Wall Street types, for instance. Their kids all go to prep school like Philipps Andover or Exeter, then on to Ivy League colleges, and then on to Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, and eventually maybe to government. This is, for all intents and purposes, an upper caste, which is also largely endogamous. Just try breaking into it: it is well-nigh impossible. Then there are the lower-caste serfs, the plebeian yahoos who are subjected to ‘manufacturing consent’ on a daily basis. They were earlier manipulated via the big newspapers, but now the tech platforms do an even better job. If you don’t believe me, see how the Overton window has shifted sharply in favor of woke tropes over the last few years. Or, for a more tactical shift, note how the topic of heated discussion has gone from Roe v Wade to school shootings to Jan 6 within days. I am reminded of a line from Pink Floyd, Welcome to the Machine: “What did you dream? It’s alright, we told you what to dream”.In contrast to Kotkin, I would argue that there is no neo-Feudalism, it is the same lovely practice that never went away. Kotkin also said, in passing, “Silicon valley is full of indentured servants from Asia”. He meant India. He is right, and that is the role of India in the game: producing raw materials, including serfs, for the consumption of the upper caste feudal lords.Feudalism applies also to nations. Whites have for a few centuries been the feudal lords, and their colonies, especially India, have been the untermenschen serfs. That is their pre-ordained role. As Mearsheimer candidly admits, the US blundered in allowing China to escape from serfdom. And it is too late. But of course it is not too late to contain India! They have no intention of blundering again, or allowing India to rise to be a great power as well. China has become an honorary upper caste country by bulking up its economy and especially its military. But applications are now firmly closed for membership in this club. Even rich Japan has only a tenuous membership. It is in the interests of the feudal lord countries to keep the serf countries as they are.In this, the US and China are as one: there is no way India can be allowed to gain power. This may explain the fury with which US and European commentators (eg Bruno Macaes) greeted India’s stance in the Ukraine war, of keeping aloof from it. That’s not how a serf state is supposed to act: it should do the Gunga Din tango.This mindset is why the US has continually armed and financed Pakistan, propping up a failed state that should have been dismantled long ago: it is meant to contain India. This is also why you have the likes of Thenmozhi Soundararajan running rampant in the US shouting about caste. This is why a propagandist like Audrey Truschke is not ejected from polite company. This is why USCIRF, an evangelist propaganda body, gets free rein to pontificate about India. This is why India is marginalized in the Quad, and the upper caste countries (Anglosphere is by definition upper caste) close ranks to form AUKUS. India must be put in its place, and that’s why a million mutinies are funded by the Ford Foundation and George Soros, and Xinhua and other CCP arms. There are plenty of sleeper cells armed and ready to riot on command. Add to this mix the oil states of West Asia. Qatar has its giant natural gas reserves, and India is increasingly addicted to LNG including for its newly-minted rural women consumers of cooking gas. Furthermore, Biden is genuflecting at the feet of Saudi Arabia, as Glenn Greenwald writes in a stinging comment on substack. Having successfully prevented India from buying cheap Iranian oil, and pushing hard to prevent it from buying cheap Russian oil, the Americans are forcing India to be ever-more dependent on West Asian states. Never mind that India has buyer power: of course the sellers have to sell the stuff to somebody to keep their economies ticking over.Also never mind the fallacy of the argument that India must kowtow to these Gulf states, in case they send back the Indians working there. Well, that is not charity, either. If the Indians were ejected (let us recall what happened to Uganda in Idi Amin’s time), the serfs running everything would be gone, and the feudal lords would actually have to get their hands dirty doing something other than being rich and idle. The fact that India has not asserted itself forcefully means that the pressure tactics are working: the malign forces have drawn first blood. Chances are that worse is yet to come. 1600 words, Jun 15, 2022 updated Jun 19, 2022 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

ThePrintPod: ‘Won't quit govt jobs' — Kashmiri Hindus fleeing Valley after killings say ‘we want safety'

ThePrint

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2022 7:17

Hundreds of Kashmiri Hindu govt employees have left the Kashmir Valley over the last 10 days in the light of alleged targeted killings by terrorists, and returned to Jammu. ----more---- https://theprint.in/india/wont-quit-govt-jobs-kashmiri-hindus-fleeing-valley-after-killings-say-we-want-safety/994974/

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Why are Kashmiri Hindus quitting the Valley? | In Focus

In Focus by The Hindu

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2022 32:13

Kashmiri Pandits, many of whom were given government jobs and brought to the Valley a decade ago, have started to flee following targeted killings of their colleagues by terrorists. Not just Kashmiri Pandits, but other Hindus have also been killed. As have Muslims. In August 2019, when Article 370 was reduced to a shell, and the state of Jammu & Kashmir whittled down to a Union Territory, the Central government promised to turn it into the most developed state in the country within five years. Long a part of the BJP's ideological agenda, Home Minister Amit Shah said on the floor of Parliament at the time that Article 370 was the biggest hurdle in the path of normalcy in Kashmir. Where do things stand now as minorities flee and terrorist killings continue? Guest: Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (retd.) is part of a group of concerned citizens regarding Jammu and Kashmir Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan

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Is the condemnation a deflection of the ongoing assault on Kashmiri Hindus?

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2022 5:50

All these condemnations are the handiwork of a failed nation that wants to deflect attention away from the main problem of the assault on Kashmiri Hindus feels Sree Iyer. The Kashmir Files is a truth that these countries cannot counter. Hence the outrage. #NupurSharma #TheKashmirFiles #kashmiripandits

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Kashmiri Pandits Not Allowed to Leave Srinagar Kashmir Pandits Killing Sanjay Dixit

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2022 20:37

With a spate of killings of Kashmiri Hindus, complete failure of India's Kashmir strategy is obvious. Yet, in spite of being flagged repeatedly, it continues appeasing separatist sympathisers and rewarding them, and ignoring nationalists both in Kashmir and Jammu. It is a Shah Faesal friendly government, says Sanjay Dixit.

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What the Modi Govt needs to do to regain the confidence of Kashmiri Hindus

Sit Down with Sid Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2022 6:19

Pakistan continues to find enough terrorists to push into the Kashmir Valley and cherry-pick Kashmiri Hindus who are returning to their homeland. Here are some steps that can be taken to ensure that the KPs feel safe and secure in their homeland. #KashmiriPandits #RahulBhatt #NarendraModi #Kashmir #Security

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Balkrishan Sanyasi – Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus and Author of the Chronicles of Kashmir | Sit Down with Sid Podcast EP 37

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2022 59:27

Watch this podcast in Video:➽ https://youtu.be/WO9pcvg9uQw Text: PODCAST to 201.281.9651 to get added to the distribution list Sit Down with Sid podcast is a podcast hosted by Sid Gandotra. The podcast is about people we encounter in our everyday lives - the people we can actually relate to. This podcast is about their lives, struggles, fears, experiences, failures and successes. Stay tuned for new episodes and guest appearances! About the Host:Sid Gandotra is a Founder, Digital Marketing and Branding Specialist, Creator of Sit Down with Sid podcast on YouTube, and Licensed Real Estate Salesperson in NYC. As a marketing professional, Sid has been instrumental in helping companies and entrepreneurs successfully grow their businesses with his laser-focused marketing strategies and exceptional customer service. Sid's worldly perspective and appreciation of cultural diversity fuels his genuine interest in people and learning about them. He hails from New Delhi, India, and speaks English and Hindi fluently. Sid also holds a Bachelors and a Master's Degree, with concentrations in marketing. His interests include reading books, exploring new places, weight training and going on adventures. ✿ Connect with Sid:▶Website: https://bit.ly/3l7V8tc ▶LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3GczqNg About the Guest:Balkrishan Sanyasi is a Kashmiri poet and a writer. He has published two poetry collections in Kashmiri language and was nominated thrice for Sahitya Academy award. He has written more than 100 papers on language, literature and social issues and presented in various literary forums. His poems have been translated into many Indian regional and foreign languages. He was invited in the National Symposium of Poets organized by All India Radio in Varanasi in the year 2011 and is a member of the expert committee with the Ministry of Information and broadcasting and the ministry of culture. He taught Political Science to post graduate students and has a keen eye on the changing political scenario that confronts nation states which is reflected in his writings. Connect with the Guest:➽About - https://bit.ly/3LupDoP▶Buy “The Chronicles of Kashmir” on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3HD6a2O▶Buy “The Chronicles of Kashmir” on Flipkart - https://bit.ly/3sn9OHD ----------------------------------------✽--------------------------------------------- To reach the team at Sit Down with Sid Podcast:➽Email: sitdownwithsidpodcast@gmail.com➽Website: https://bit.ly/3nkziTx➽Instagram: https://bit.ly/3kZWLJK➽Facebook: https://bit.ly/3miOobB Balkrishan Sanyasi – Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus and Author of the Chronicles of Kashmir | Sit Down with Sid Podcast EP 37 #sitdownwithsidpodcast #thekashmirfiles #kashmir #poet #author

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The Kashmir Files Trailer Review! | Anupam Kher | Mithun Chakraborty | Vivek Agnihotri

Cinemondo Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 7, 2022 12:12

The Kashmir Files Trailer Review! | Anupam Kher | Mithun Chakraborty | Vivek Agnihotri! Kathy and Mark react to the trailer for this upcoming film based on true events, The Kashmir Files, written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Vivek Agnihotri. The film tells the story of the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in the early 1990s due to the Kashmir Insurgency. #TrailerReactions #MovieReviews #TheKashmirFiles #AnupamKher #VivekAgnihotriSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/CinemondoPodcast)

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Kashmiri Hindu Genocide Denialism In India

The Cārvāka Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2022 99:14

In this podcast, Sunanda Vashisht talks with Kushal Mehra about denialism when it comes to the brutal killings of Kashmiri Hindus and their genocide in India. Who was responsible for the killings? Who was in power? When did the killings start? Follow Sunanda: Twitter: @sunandavashisht Muckcrack: https://muckrack.com/sunanda-vashisht #KashmiriGenocide #Farooq Abdullah #Jagmohan ------------------------------------------------------------ Support The Cārvāka Podcast: Become a Member on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKPxuul6zSLAfKSsm123Vww/join Become a Member on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/carvaka UPI: kushalmehra@icici To buy The Carvaka Podcast Exclusive Merch please visit: http://kushalmehra.com/shop ------------------------------------------------------------ Follow Kushal: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kushal_mehra?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KushalMehraOfficial/? Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecarvakapodcast/?hl=en Koo: https://www.kooapp.com/profile/kushal_mehra Inquiries: https://kushalmehra.com/ Feedback: kushalmehra81@gmail.com

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Kejriwal's Rant Against Kashmir Files KejriwalExposed Sanjay Dixit

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2022 11:27

Kejriwal is a great danger for the country and for the Hindus. The way he mocked the Kashmiri Hindus by calling The Kashmir Files a 'jhoothi film' is going to have repercussions for him. Sanjay Dixit explains.

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PM Modi on "The Kashmir Files" | RJPL India

RJPL India

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2022 5:05

The Kashmir Files is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. Produced by Zee Studios, the film is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus during the Kashmir Insurgency. It stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi. For more latest visit www.twiggedindia.com

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Pt Satish K Sharma: Will the Britisher be the first to finally declare the 'Exodus' as Genocide?

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2022 29:23

The Kashmir Files takes the UK by storm. Britain has the dubious distinction of sheltering organizations like the JKLF and their ilk and not doing anything about their activities back home. Pt. Satish K Sharma looks at the impact of the movie on the genocide that was attempted on Kashmiri Hindus, the British apathy & reactions of theaters messing up the showing to hide the truth. #TheKashmirFiles #KashmirFiles #RightToJustice #KashmiriPandit #KashmirExodus #KashmirGenocide

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The Kashmir Files - Don't forget 7th Exodus of Kashmir | Pt. Satish, VJ, Rakesh Kaul, SD

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2022 63:45

The 7th Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus was hushed up exactly in the manner of the larger Hindu genocide that took place over several centuries and throughout the sub-continent. Sanjay Dixit is joined by Pandit Satish Sharma, Rakesh Kaul and Vibhuti Jha to discuss the various aspects - whether portraying the true events should logically make us discuss the ideology that causes it, and whether the State failed not just the Hindus but the entire pro-India class in the Valley and elsewhere.

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Ep. 55: Human rights? All humans are equal, but some are more equal than others

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2022 9:56

A version of this essay has been published by firstpost.com at https://www.firstpost.com/world/human-rights-all-humans-are-equal-but-some-are-more-equal-than-others-10340451.htmlThis story has already receded into the background, but it was quite startling when it took place recently: a Pakistani-Briton named Malik Faisal Akram held four Jews hostage in a Texas synagogue. He was demanding the release of a Pakistani woman, Aafia Siddiqui, sentenced to an 86 year prison term in the US. Why she is important is a good question, but that need not detain us here.What is intriguing is the fact that Akram was apparently simply shot by a US military or police sharpshooter. The reports were bland, and they just said that the hostages had been freed unharmed; the fate of their captor was barely mentioned at all: it was as though he had been executed, as a matter of course, and that was the proper and normal thing to do.Without condoning the man, one can look at the interesting implications. Akram may indeed have been a dangerous and unstable armed terrorist, but he was, after all, a foreign national. And he had not actually harmed anybody physically. Aren’t there norms about citizens of friendly powers? Can they be arbitrarily shot dead? Was the UK embassy involved? Could the police have used a tranquilizer dart instead? Why is nobody asking questions, but accepting it as a fait accompli?True, the human rights of a terrorist or an insurgent are no greater than those of an average citizen, but shouldn’t there be some standard operating procedures?I remember other incidents in the US where the use of massive force by federal or local authorities was somehow deemed appropriate, with few questions asked. One was the devastating attack in April 1993 on a compound in Waco, Texas, where a religious cult called the Branch Davidians were holed up. 76 members of the group were burned to death after a 51-day siege.In 1985, the radical (black?) group MOVE, fortified in a Philadelphia house, was attacked by city authorities with a helicopter gunship, and a fire was allowed to burn out of control, killing 11 people, and burning down 61 houses in the neighborhood. A subsequent court ruling held that constitutional rights were violated, and excessive force was used. The point is that in some cases violations of human rights (even of terrorists or outlaws) are condoned, but in other cases they are magnified, blown up, and used as narrative-building weapons. The judiciary is sometimes blamed, although in some cases the executive may be at fault for not making a good case, or any case at all, either deliberately or through incompetence.Thanks for reading Shadow Warrior! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.For example, there is the cause celebre of Ishrat Jahan. This woman from Mumbai was found traveling to Gujarat with her boss Javed Sheikh, and two others including a Pakistani, and they were shot by the police. It is alleged (including in testimony from David Headley, Pakistani-American kingpin of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai) that she was an LeT operative, and that the group were planning to assassinate then-CM Narendra Modi. There was an international uproar protesting her innocence.So why are Ishrat Jahan’s human rights so much greater than those of Malik Faisal Akram? The answer, of course, is narrative. Information warfare is manufactured on demand. Thank you for reading Shadow Warrior. This post is public so feel free to share it.There has been a series of other human rights incidents in the recent past in India that show how dysfunctional the system is, and how empty the rhetoric is. Four years ago, a starving tribal named Madhu in Kerala was caught stealing a small amount of rice. A group of young men videotaped him being tied up, humiliated, and then beaten to death. His hearing came up recently, and the prosecution did not appear at all in court!Dilbar Negi, a young man in Delhi, was brutalized and slaughtered during the Delhi riots in 2020. His limbs were cut off, and he was burned alive. Recently, a high-powered lawyer got bail for six of the accused in Delhi High Court. Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar was accused of raping a nun 13 times at a convent in Kerala. Several nuns braved the wrath of the church to bring out stories about oppression and (sexual) abuse in nunneries. Last week, the district court rejected in toto the evidence presented against him, and cleared him of all charges. A terrified young commuter, Sowmya, was chased around the empty woman’s coach in a train, pushed off the train, raped on the tracks, and had her head bashed in with a stone by one-armed beggar Charly Thomas in Kerala in 2011. The fast-track court delivered a death sentence in the rape-murder. But on appeal to the Supreme Court, two things happened: the prosecution was not able to present a water-tight case, and the ‘beggar’ Charly was able to hire an expensive, hot-shot lawyer. The result? The death sentence was commuted to ‘life’, which means that he will be released after 14 years. Just last week, retired BSF jawan Bhagwat Nishad shot and killed Dilshad Hussain in court premises in Gorakhpur, UP. It is alleged that Nishad’s minor daughter had been abducted and raped by Hussain, and though there was a POCSO case, the accused was out on bail. There is the currently sensational case of Lavanya, a 17-year-old student of a residential Christian school in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. A top student, she was allegedly repeatedly coerced to convert and even to become a nun. When she refused, she was punished, mentally tortured, and forced to do menial tasks like cleaning toilets. She consumed poison, and in her dying declaration from hospital available on video, she clearly implicates those who were torturing her. Instead of taking action against the accused, the instincts of the state apparatus and the media were to cover things up, and to question the credibility of Lavanya and her parents. The police authorities dismissed the whole incident, and it took a consistent grassroots movement to prevent this sad, but not unusual, incident from being swept under the carpet. All this leads to the disheartening question: do some people have human rights, while others don’t? Are governments not constitutionally required to treat the powerful and the powerless the same when investigating criminal offenses and human rights violations? Why does it appear that in some cases the executive is content to make a mockery of the judicial proceedings?Are people gaming the judiciary by filing pointless PILs, which well-connected lawyers can ram through the system? Why, for instance, does the Supreme Court refuse to hear the case of the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990, but is willing to take up the case of Rohingyas, who technically have no locus standi in India, being illegal aliens? India is also not a signatory to non-refoulement treaties, and is perfectly at liberty to send them back to Myanmar.Who pays for all the expensive lawyers? There is a pattern whereby unseen forces pump in money to hire the best lawyers (sometimes hiding it under ‘crowdfunding’) to get judgments that may have propaganda and other value for them. Unfortunately, despite the soaring rhetoric about human rights, the reality is that unless your agenda happens to coincide with that of narrative-builders, you will get no traction. Indian cricketers, in an embarrassing display of cluelessness and dhimmitude, ‘took the knee’ for Black Lives Matter. That they would never do the same for Kashmiri Hindu Lives Matter tells the whole story in a nutshell. 1240 words, 27 Jan 2022 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

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Until the horrors of Kashmir's ethnic cleansing are owned up to, communal harmony won't return: Part Two | Vijay Sazawal

That's So Hindu

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2022 17:22

In this second part of Deepali Kulkarni's talk with Vijay Sazawal, international coordinator for the Indo-American Kashmir Forum, and a senior member of the Kashmir Overseas Association, they discuss the most recent violence in Kashmir, the reality of the situation for Kashmiri Hindus today, as well as some more context on the Exodus. Indo-American Kashmir ForumKashmir Overseas Association Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Until the horrors of Kashmir's ethnic cleansing are owned up to, communal harmony won't return: Part Two | Vijay Sazawal

That's So Hindu

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2022 17:20

politics yoga spirituality exodus horrors hindu owned hinduism kashmir communal vijay ethnic cleansing kashmiri hindus

32 years of exile for Kashmiri Hindus - Light at the end of the tunnel? I Aarti Tikoo Singh